The wake enhancement effect of bionic grooved blade on low-specific-speed centrifugal pump

Water conveyors are important infrastructure supporting industrial, agricultural, and urban development. They provide a stable source of water for factories, farmland, and residential areas. As critical high-head water transportation devices, low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps frequently encounter flow separation at the trailing edges of their blades, adversely impacting hydraulic performance. To alleviate this problem, this study introduces a biomimetic Space-V groove at the trailing edge of the impeller, grounded in the second vortex theory. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed utilizing the shear stress transport K-ω turbulence model to analyze the flow field within the impeller domain. The Q criterion was employed to identify vortex cores and assess turbulence kinetic energy, while comparing the hydraulic performance and pressure pulsations of the centrifugal pump before and after the modification. The results indicate that, at the rated flow rate, the optimized biomimetic grooved impeller achieves approximately a 3% increase in head and a 5% increase in efficiency. Furthermore, the distribution of vortex cores at the outlet of the flow channel is also alleviated. Experimental validation confirmed that the biomimetic model enhances the flow conditions at the impeller trailing edge. This study serves as a reference for blade design in low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps.